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Another of the security trade publications picked up this story from Reuters (I think they put it out on the wire first). The security mag headlined the story, "Hollywood Power Couple Sues Leading National Security Provider." Okay, that's accurate, I guess. So, we'll find out which security provider is getting sued once we read the story right? No? Huh. That's odd. It was ADT. It says so in the Reuters story. It says so in our story. ADT didn't deny it. Their spokesperson even gave us some background on the story when managing editor Martha Entwistle called her up. Wonder why the other publication couldn't figure out which company it was.
Huh.

People wonder why editors get jaded and drink lots of whiskey. Reason one: Journalists are lower than car thieves in public opinion nowadays. Reason two: lots of people lie to them. Here's a great example: The world's first security system designed for temporary construction sites. Well, except for this one. Ooops.

Looks like at least a few people in the industry decided to work the last week of summer. Homeland Security Capital Corp., the busy company run by former baller/Congressman Tom McMillen, completed on Aug. 31 the sale of its subsidiary, Security Holding Corp., which it just bought about a year ago. Is that like buying a house, painting it, and flipping it? Well, I guess that's what HSCC has said it was going to do all along: consolidate the industry and make a few bucks doing it. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. Also, what to make of the buyer, Vuance? Starting out in asset tracking, its quickly built a security arm with the addition of Security Holding, which contains Security Inc., most notably, an access control outfit. Based in Israel, Vuance has a U.S. subsidiary called SuperCom (sorry, no link), based in McLean, Va., naturally.

Dennis Raefield has left the sweet world of retirement to join up-and-coming IP access control manufacturer Edge-Integration. Some of you may remember him as the former head of Honeywell Access Control, or the guy who bought Ademco. Or maybe you remember him from his days at Ortega. I talked to him on the phone the other day, and he said, "This is the hottest thing I've ever seen in access control." And he's seen a lot of stuff.

The crosses and dots are all finished with in Saflink's sale of its Registered Traveler assets to the company it created, FLO. Once the organizer and leader of the FLO Alliance, Saflink went so far as to reorganize itself around FLO, but now has chosen to sell off its FLO assets to a corporation that it created, but in which it now holds just 23% equity interest. Simply put, Saflink needed the cash. CEO Steve Oyer's plan to focus on monetizing the company's assets seems like a solid one, but it's got to be disappointing that Saflink won't see through what seemed to have revenue-creating potential. Note that former Safllink CEO Glenn Argenbright, the driver behind Saflink's foray into FLO, now runs FLO Corp. and has resigned from the Saflink board.

Aronson Security Group, also known as ASG, but not the same ASG as the one run by Joe Nuccio, announced this week the slate for its 7th annual Security Summit. Looks like a good lineup, with Bob Hayes, managing director of the CSO Executive Security Council; Bill Jacobs, the director of Risk Technologies for Cisco (Cisco's security guy); Charlie Beck, deputy chief of the LAPD; and Steve Hunt, head of 4A International and a security dreamer. More and more, it seems, integrators are getting into the conference/expo/trade show act, helping customers forgo the need for a trip to ASIS. Inital's doing it. Service Works is doing it. Are you doing it?

I got the Securing New Ground hype pamphlent in the mail the other day and I just want to highlight a couple points of interest (though we are not a sponsoring publication - goodness I'm magnanimous). Anyway, I thought last year's conference was solid, and though there are some repeat faces and topics this year, there are also some new faces worth noting. First, keynoter Julie Donahue is certainly of interest. As VP of the Global Technology Services Group for IBM, she's in charge of the big S3 push and all of IBM's security efforts. When I spoke with her at ISC West, she felt IBM's analytics were head and shoulders above the competition's. I'm also interested in hearing Robert Farenhem as part of the "Reinventing the Dealer" panel. He, along with his Royal Palm Capital colleague Rick Rochon, replaced Steve Ruzika, who was much praised by industry types, at Devcon. Finally, John Carter, head of Carter Bros., who bought Edwards Service from GE last year, seems to be getting the attention he deserves. He'll be on a panel with UTC's Antonio Cintra and Nortel's John Sheridan, two big players.
Okay, the conference will cost ya $1,395, even with the early bird special, and you'll be ponying up big dollars to stay in Manhattan, but if you're looking for chairmen, presidents, and the like, Securing New Ground ain't bad for rubbing elbows.

The recent 2Q results for GVI Security seem to be an indication that Steve Walin knows what he's doing. He first came to GVI from GE Security in March of 2006, inheriting a company that was losing, to quote him, "a million bucks a month." Next we heard, the company was short on cash and looking for financing. That he got it, that he's managed to attract a number of talented management types to GVI, and that he's managed to turn a $4.5 million loss in 2Q 2006 into a $160,000 profit in 2Q 2007 seems to indicated he's a pretty good manager. He definitely good at identifying unnecessary costs. In the most recent quarter, selling, general and administrative expenses accounted for 23 percent of $12.27 million in revenues; in the second quarter of 2006, those same expenses accounted for 40 percent of $11.16 million in revenues.